Dieser Abschnitt zeigt, dass die anti-japanische Rhetorik weniger ideologisch als vielmehr moralisch-egoistisch motiviert ist.

The following is the preface of the truly outstanding book by former University of Tokyo professor Nobuhiko Sakai, Asahi Shimbun Driven Mad by Anti-Japanese Hypocrisy — The Asahi-Style Mental Structure of Prejudice and Discrimination.

Triggered by the Japanese government’s declaration of nationalization last summer, so-called “anti-Japanese demonstrations” erupted amid the dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands.

These were acts of terror staged by the Chinese state itself, and September 18—the anniversary of the Manchurian Incident—was deliberately invoked on that occasion.

In addition, the former president of South Korea landed on Takeshima, and the new president declared that the relationship between victim and perpetrator would never change even after one thousand years.

What is clearly revealed here is the tactic of forcibly linking territorial issues to historical issues, turning the Japanese into villains in order to conceal one’s own crimes.

Yet even in the face of the arrival of this grave and serious situation, the Japanese people are still unable to fully and correctly recognize what is happening.

Despite blatant acts of persecution and brutality—such as arson and looting of Japanese companies by the Chinese state—and despite being viciously insulted by the South Korean president, almost no anger rises among the Japanese people.

This is the clearest proof.

Such a state of affairs arises because a sense of guilt has been implanted through historical issues, robbing the Japanese as a people of their pride and honor, and spiritually invading them.

It is the decline and absence of national consciousness, and a fundamental weakening of spiritual strength.

The reason why the Chinese and Koreans can commit such acts without hesitation is that within Japan itself there exists a large number of people who side with them and enthusiastically engage in attacks on Japan.

These people take many forms, but the central role is played, without question, by the Asahi Shimbun.

Among conservatives, it is often believed that Asahi’s anti-Japanese rhetoric stems from left-wing ideology, but this understanding is not correct.

As is evident from the inclusion of many non-leftists such as politicians of the Liberal Democratic Party, the essence of their discourse is fundamentally hypocrisy—put simply, a desire to be seen as conscientious human beings.

Furthermore, the historical view promoted by Asahi is called “self-abusive history,” but since they feel no pain themselves and deliberately torment Japan as their target, it should more accurately be called “abusive-toward-Japan history.”

That is to say, the essential nature of Asahi’s discourse can rightly be concluded to be “anti-Japanese hypocrisy.”